Not Attracting Good Candidates for Your Open Positions? 4 Common Job Posting Mistakes!
Did you know that 90% of candidates start their job search on a mobile device?
This means that job candidates are often flipping through job postings so fast - sometimes only long enough to read the first sentence - to decide whether to apply for a job with your nonprofit organization! With technology’s impact, an ever-changing and more selective workforce, and a competitive hiring environment, you need to make sure your job postings work for you!
Is your nonprofit organization making these common job posting mistakes?
copying and pasting the job description
loading your job posting with requirements
using dry, overly technical language
focusing on your organization (instead of focusing on the applicant)
When our clients come to us for help, they are often struggling to get many (or any applicants). We work with our nonprofit clients for hiring services and retained searches to change this, and a key part is managing their job postings to attract candidates. For some of our nonprofit clients, when they come to us for help, they can’t even get in the front door with potential candidates because their job postings aren’t working for them.
4 Common Job Posting Mistakes:
MISTAKE 1: Copying and pasting the job description
A job description often includes a list of all of the things a person will do in a role. Sometimes these tasks or responsibilities are specific and specialized. In a job description (a summary of what the role is), internal or highly technical language can be found. In a job posting (a marketing tool to describe the role and attract individuals to the position), you want to present the position accurately,
MISTAKE 2: Loading your job posting with requirements
You want your job posting to attract potential applicants to your nonprofit organization - not scare them away! By listing requirement after requirement, you are giving applicants a list of reasons they should not apply. Before using the term “requires” in a job posting, be honest with yourself about whether this qualification is an absolute or a preference.
Also, if you are looking to create postings that follow DEI best practices and will attract a more diverse and inclusive candidate pool, we encourage our nonprofit clients to not list wants as requirements and to feature less than five requirements.
For education especially, only list requirements on a job posting that are actually required! Is a Bachelor’s degree really required? Or can you remove that as a requirement and put ‘five years of experience’ as the requirement instead?
If you are not getting enough candidates - let alone qualified ones - focus on casting a wider net through your job posting and learning more about the candidates during the interview process.
MISTAKE 3: using dry, overly technical language
You want language in your job posting to be positive, candidate-centered, and inviting. Your job posting is an opportunity to paint “a day in the life” in the role and give a candidate a clear view on what it would be like to work at your organization.
We see so many nonprofit organizations that, even when they aren’t copying and pasting the job description, they are still filling their postings with overly technical language that doesn’t really communicate anything.
“research and recommend solutions while remaining current on emerging solutions that add value to our strategy”
Do you know what that bullet is saying? Do you have any idea what the applicant would be doing on a day-to-day basis? I do not.
Instead of saying something that is very abstract and engage a candidate, we recommend using candidate-focused, conversational language. Here's an alternative that’s a little more specific and engaging and speaks directly to the applicant.
“You are a builder, a learner, and a leader. You are always looking for the next emerging trends.”
MISTAKE 4: focusing on your organization (instead of focusing on the applicant)
Often, when I review a nonprofit’s job postings, they spend the first 3 paragraphs giving an overall summary of the organization, the history, and often listing all of the programming. Although this is important information, it might not be the quickest way to your applicant’s heart.
All job postings should focus on “YOU”. Remember, an organization’s job posting is a marketing tool to communicate between the nonprofit and the potential candidate. So, go ahead and talk directly to the candidate and invite them into the role.
Focus on telling the candidate the WIIFM (What’s In It For ME) and tell them what a day in the life of that position would look like. Tell the applicants about qualities that might make them a good fit for the role or help them excel. Most importantly, get them excited about the job they would be doing and the impact they are going to make!
Take a current position you’re hiring for and review the job posting, asking yourself, “Does this job posting…?”
give the WIIFM first
create a picture of a day in the life
talk about why our organization is a great place to work
